Broccoli, White Bean & Cheddar Soup
Mom’s and dad’s I know what many of you may be thinking— “my kid won’t eat green soup!” The struggle is real when it comes to toddlers and green food. However, I have a few tips that will hopefully help you with this recipe. The first thing to keep in mind is that this soup tastes AWESOME! And while it may take a few tries to get your little one to actually take a bite, rest assured that the favor is really delicious and once they get that first try/bite in you may be surprised that they just keep going!
Another big thing that I have found to be really helpful when it comes to getting my toddler to try “new” or “scary” foods for the first time is to have her help me prepare them. For this soup we got out our favorite toddler knives and I let her help chop the broccoli. Once I had the other ingredients all chopped up and premastered she got to help me pour contents into the soup pot. But honestly, The best part was that she helped me blend the soup in our stand blender. She puts on her headphones for “ear protection” (hahah!) and we press the button together and let the soup whirl away. Now, of course doing this with a toddler means extra precautions so that the hot sop doesn’t overflow out of the blender. So we make sure to do this in batches after the soup has cooled a bit. But honestly, after she has put in a lot of her own personal effort and extra “touches” to the soup she is way more inclined to try the final product.
Another thing that was fun with this soup is that we just skipped the spoons altogether and got to eat the soup with big hunks of sourdough bread for “soaking” up our bowls. We also had fun drinking out of our bowls just for humor and a little light heartedness at the table.
A few things that I love about this soup is that it is jam packed with antioxidants, plant based protein and fiber, and contains a good amount of bone broth for those important minerals and collagen. We used raw milk cheddar cheese along with some good quality whole milk to make this extra nutritious and creamy.
I hope you and your family love this soup as much as we do.
Broccoli, White Bean & Cheddar Soup
PREP TIME: 10 minutes COOK TIME: 30 MINUTES SERVES: 6
2 Tablespoons butter or ghee
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon unrefined salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 cups chicken bone broth
1 cup cooked white beans (such as Navy or Cannelini)
4 cups broccoli florets, roughly chopped
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
Whole milk plain yogurt or sour cream for topping (optional)
Preparation
Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, salt, garlic powder, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened About 8 minutes.
Add the broth, beans and broccoli and bring to a simmer. Cook until the broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour in the milk.
Carefully, in batches, pour the soup into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Return the blended soup to the pot, keep on low heat, and stir in the cheese. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.
Serve warm with a dollop of plain yogurt and big hunks of sourdough bread for dunking.
